What's so bad about H&M disease anyway? From what I have read it causes
blisters and sensitivity to cows udders and hooves (unfortunate but hardly
crucial), reduced production of milk (still, must be more than a dead cow
gives), some weakening and shorter life span (but must be longer than sudden
death in a pit or on a pyre), and sometimes an animal could lose a foot (so
you shoot him then). I have yet to hear of dreadful ultimate consequences,
except to international trade in animal products.
I've discussed this with some colleagues and can understand why such a
disease should be controlled at some effort (but not by killing all the
surrounding cattle), why even uncontaminated livestock should be killed.
Ethically speaking, it seems that the consequences of the disease do not
warrant the extreme measures taken to prevent it.
Any discussion or enlightenment on this subject?
-Tc
Anthony R. S. Chiaviello, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Professional Writing
Department of English
University of Houston-Downtown
One Main Street
Houston, TX 77002-0001
713.221.8520 / 713.868.3979
"Question Reality"
> ----------
> From: Steven Bissell[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2001 11:15 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: PETA steps in it again.
>
> It is the "forlorn look" in this quote that attracts me.
>
> Steven
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion forum for environmental ethics.
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Ray Lanier
> Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2001 9:36 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: PETA steps in it again.
>
>
> Steven,
>
> I just do not understand how some of those "strict" ethical treatment of
> animals think. Clearly, they do not know anything about how foot & mouth
> disease actually operates, they don't seem to understand how painful it
> must
> be not only to domestic animals but to all related wildlife.
>
> I agree with you, Steven. But you should be a little cautious about what
> you quote from novelists like Marquez. Sometimes their imagination gets
> carried away so far from this galaxy! No mould on this vegetarian!! But
> then, I've never spent a hundred years in solitude! :-)
>
> Ray
> ----------
> > Off the wire.
> >
> > "NORFOLK, Va. - While U.S. authorities take precautions to prevent
> > foot-and-mouth from entering the country, the president of People for
> the
> > Ethical Treatment of Animals, possibly the world's most influential
> animal
> > rights organization, openly hopes the disease crosses the Atlantic.
> >
> >
> > "If that hideousness came here, it wouldn't be any more hideous for the
> > animals - they are all bound for a ghastly death anyway. But it would
> wake
> > up consumers," said PETA co-founder and president Ingrid Newkirk.
> > Interviewed on Friday in the office she shares with four cats, Newkirk
> said:
> > "I openly hope that it comes here. It will bring economic harm only for
> > those who profit from giving people heart attacks and giving animals a
> > concentration camp-like existence. It would be good for animals, good
> for
> > human health and good for the environment."
> >
> > All things considered, the lack of basic information here is
> interesting.
> I
> > hope that Newkirk realizes that foot and mouth doesn't just attack live
> > stock intended for consumption, it also hits pets and such.
> >
> > Is it just me or is it strange that PETA continues to have any
> credibility?
> >
> > Steven
> >
> > . . .in the last days he lost his appetite
> > and fed only on vegetables. He soon acquired
> > the forlorn look that one sees in vegetarians.
> > His skin became covered with a thin moss,
> > similar to that which flourished on the
> > antique vest that he never took off,
> > and his breath exhaled the odor of a
> > sleeping animal.
> > Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1967
> > One Hundred Years of Solitude
>
|